This invention relates to a storage unit for conveniently holding fishing tackle. In particular, it relates to a storage unit for holding leaders with hooks and pre-tied flies and other lures so that they can be easily stored and easily retrieved for use.
Sport fishermen are aware that it may be necessary to use a number of different means to lure fish to a hook during a single fishing expedition. In the case of fly fishing, this means that different flies are likely to be required according to the types of fish expected to be caught, the time of day, the weather conditions, the environmental conditions of the location, and other factors. Not only is it necessary to be prepared to use different flies, but the lines to which the flies are connected may also be different in thickness and, therefore, in strength, ranging from a very slender line that the fish cannot see easily but that will break in response to a stress corresponding to a weight of only two pounds up to a much thicker line capable of withstanding many pounds of stress.
The equipment that turns out to be needed on a fishing trip cannot always be anticipated in advance, and many fishermen carry a number of poles, lines, and flies. If they don't, they must be prepared to tie the flies at the fishing location and connect them to their line on the spot. The necessity to stop fishing to tie and attach a new fly under such circumstances is an unpleasant interruption in the time available to try to catch fish. Furthermore, trying to make the necessary adjustments and changes while at the fishing location is frequently all but impossible. Having several sets of complete equipment to make it possible to drop one and immediately pick up another not only requires carrying all of that equipment to the fishing location, with the strong likelihood that some of it may not be used and that other equipment not brought may turn out to be preferred, but also requires a substantial expenditure for essentially duplicate equipment. Even if several flies are pre-tied and attached to short leaders that are to be connected to the end of the main line on a pole, it is essential that the leaders, or snells, be stored easily in a way that allows any one of them to be available with a minimum of effort so as to be ready for immediate attachment to a main line.
Tackle boxes and other containers to hold extra leaders, hooks, flies and other tackle are well known. However, none of those available are arranged to receive leaders easily and in a manner that makes any one of the leaders accessible separately from the others.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 920,663 to Schaney and 2,422,570 to Willis show reels for receiving a number of leaders with hooks, each hook being joined to the loop in the leader attached to the preceding hook, so that they can only be wound and unwound in sequence.
Glahn shows a container in U.S. Pat. N. 2,517,867 for separate reels on which leaders have been wound and from which they may be extracted by pulling on their ends, which are hooked onto fingers on the outer surface of the container. No access is provided for attaching individual leaders to their respective reels after the container has been assembled, nor is any structure provided for turning all of the reels in the same direction to wind leaders on them.
Several forms of a simple structure consisting, essentially, of a single cylinder with spaces on which to wind separate leaders are shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
2,596,896 Goad PA1 2,716,302 Dutton PA1 2,743,546 Crist PA1 2,789,389 Moen PA1 4,631,856 Born PA1 4,791,752 Van Kampen.
Anderson, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,667,010 and 2,670,563, and Losowy, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,924,908, show holders in which snelled fishhooks are stored without being wound on a rotatable reel.
Adamek shows a container with multi-level means for holding a number of hooks with flies in U.S. Pat. No. 2,675,640.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,039,226, Bagdonas shows a reel with several locations that can be engaged by hooks attached to different leaders, but all of the leaders are wound on the same reel and cannot be separately disengaged from the reel without disturbing any of the others. The holder may be made in modular form, but each reel module is like all the others and holds several leaders. There is no common winding means operable, on the one hand, to wind a leader without disturbing any previously wound leaders and, on the other, separately operable to allow any individual leader to be unwound, also without disturbing others.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,143, Scott shows a reel with a number of slots in which to engage fishhooks. After each hook is engaged, the leader attached to it is wound on the reel and then the free end of the leader forced into a tight-fitting slit. The leaders are not attached to each other, but they have to be unwound in reverse order to the order in which they were put on. They cannot be unwound in any other order to allow the fisherman to choose which leader to use next.
Synstellen et al. describe, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,249, a fishhook and leader storage unit for storing only one leader on a reel. While several such units may be clipped onto a fisherman's belt, there is no operative connection between them.